For one reason or another, many people believe it’s important to wash their meat and poultry before cooking it. Referring to this belief as an old wives’ tale, the newest video in the North American Meat Institute’s (NAMI) Meat MythCrusher series explains why this reasoning isn’t exactly a good food safety practice.
“From a food safety standpoint it’s a bad idea because we can potentially spread the bacteria that are on the meat to all other areas of our kitchen,” says Jonathan Campbell, meat extension specialist at Penn State University. “That makes the food safety hazard even worse.”